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Six People Shot In Uptown Drive-By Shooting

CHICAGO (CBS) — Six people were shot and wounded in a drive-by shooting Friday night in front of a strip mall in the Uptown neighborhood described by the alderman and community residents as a “hot spot.”

At least one person opened fire from a four-door sedan driving by the group in the 1000 block of West Lawrence Avenue, police said.

The wounded, five of whom were taken to area hospitals by Fire Department ambulances, included an innocent bystander waiting at a bus stop adjacent to the mall at the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Sheridan Road.

A 23-year-old woman shot in both thighs, a 24-year-old man shot in the buttocks, and a male with a gunshot wound to the ankle were at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, police said.

A 30-year-old man shot in the right thigh and a 33-year-old man shot in the left arm were taken to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, police said. A 22-year-old woman with a graze wound to the left knee was at Weiss Memorial Hospital.

All six victims were in “stable” condition Friday night, police said.

It was the same mall where just two weeks ago, a car full of gang members shot up the Cricket cellular phone store from outside, after chasing members of a rival gang into the store.

“I live half a block away. I’m angry,” said 46th Ward Ald. James Cappleman, who arrived on the scene as police collected evidence. “I’m just tired of this.”

A security guard hired by the Malik’s property manager said he had been chasing the gang members away from the mall — which holds a J.J. Peppers liquor store and KFC restaurant — all evening, calling the police at one point.

“The police came, and the guys left. But as soon as the police left, they came back,” said security guard Royal Smith.

“They hung at the side of the mall at the bus stop, and I asked them to leave, because there were too many of them, and I knew something could go down.”